Kansas passes 20,000 cases of COVID-19 as Sedgwick County increases by 348 over weekend

Kansas passed 20,000 cases of the coronavirus disease on Monday as Sedgwick County increased by 348 cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, public health officials report. The increase in cases comes as the Wichita mayor reports that local hospitals could hit their patient capacity this month.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 20,058 total cases of COVID-19 in the state and 2,422 in Sedgwick County on Monday. Those were increases of 1,447 new cases in Kansas, which is a 7.8% increase, and 348 new cases in Sedgwick County, which is a 16.8% increase.

While Sedgwick County accounts for about 18% of the state’s population, its increase in cases accounted for about 24% of the statewide increase.

Four more deaths were reported by the KDHE, bringing the statewide total to 288. The hospitalization count increased by 39 to 1,343.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 2,156 total cases on Monday, which is an increase of 133 since Sunday. Discrepancies in the case number and other data between the local and state health departments can be due to a delay in reporting between the agencies, officials have said. County epidemiologists have not identified the source of exposure for any of the new cases.

Just over half of the increase is due to patients aged 20-39, which has the most cases of any age group. The number of patients in that age group increased by 67 case to 877.

The infant to 19 years old age group increased by 17 cases to 299. The 40-59 age group increased by 32 cases to 579. The 60-79 age group increased by 14 cases to 287. The 80 and older age group increased by three cases to 114.

The number of active cases increased by 121 on Monday, bringing Sedgwick County to 1,245 active cases. It is the first time that active cases have increased by more than 100 in a day, according to a health department chart on their online dashboard.

Local recoveries increased by 12 to 883. No new deaths were reported in Sedgwick County, which hasn’t had a COVID-19 patient die since June 25.

Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said in a tweet that local hospitals could hit their patient capacity this month.

“Just got off the phone with the leadership at our #Wichita hospitals & admitted patients for covid19 are the highest ever,” Whipple said in a tweet. “If these numbers continue at the same rate our hospitals will reach capacity in 2-3 weeks (sooner if we have a 4th of July bump).

“Please wear your mask.”

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported that Wesley Healthcare and Ascension Via Christi hospitals are converting other rooms for intensive care use. The approximate number of ICU beds available is now eight, which is down from 25 a week ago.

The number of ICU beds in use increased by 170% in one week. There were 27 patients in intensive care on Monday, up from 10 a week ago.

There were 54 total patients with COVID-19 in Wichita area hospitals on Monday. That is an increase of about 69% from last Monday, when there were 32.

There were 43 patients under investigation by area hospitals. Those patients have symptoms of COVID-19 but have not yet been confirmed with a positive test. They may or may not have been admitted to a hospital. That number is up 39% from 31 patients last Monday.

The numbers represent the current hospitalizations at a single point in time, not cumulative admissions. The area hospital status assessment was listed at “moderate” with a yellow exclamation point. There is no definition for what “moderate” means and there is no specific criteria for determining the status.

County comparisons

Cases of COVID-19 have now been identified in 101 of 105 counties in the state. The four counties without a case are all in northwest Kansas.

While the 1,447 new cases in Kansas meant a statewide increase of 7.8% over the weekend, nine of the 17 counties with at least 100 cases had bigger percent increases. The three with the biggest percent changes were Sedgwick, Reno and Butler counties. The three with the smallest percent increases were Ford, Finney and Seward counties, which had been hit hard by outbreaks at meatpacking plant. Most of those coronavirus clusters have since closed.

Counties with at least 100 cases:

• Wyandotte County has 3,169 cases, which is an increase of 239 cases or 8.2%.
• Johnson County has 3,160 cases, which is an increase of 356 cases or 12.7%.
• Sedgwick County has 2,422 cases, which is an increase of 348 cases or 16.8%.
• Ford County has 2,039 cases, which is an increase of 11 cases or 0.5%.
• Finney County has 1,571 cases, which is an increase of eight cases or 0.5%.
• Leavenworth County has 1,248 cases, which is an increase of 16 cases or 13%.
• Shawnee County has 1,048 cases, which is an increase of 86 cases or 8.9%.
• Seward County has 1,028 cases, which is an increase of 12 cases or 1.2%.
• Lyon County has 523 cases, which is an increase of 15 cases or 3%.
• Douglas County has 456 cases, which is an increase of 41 cases or 9.9%.
• Riley County has 331 cases, which is an increase of 19 cases or 6.1%.
• Crawford County has 316 cases, which is an increase of 15 cases or 5%.
• Saline County has 220 cases, which is an increase of 28 cases or 12.7%.
• Reno County has 141 cases, which is an increase of 20 cases or 16.5%.
• Jackson County has 123 cases, which is an increase of six cases or 5.1%.
• Geary County has 119 cases, which is an increase of four cases or 3.5%.
• Butler County has 105 cases, which is an increase of 13 cases or 14.1%.

Wichita area counties:

• Sedgwick County has 2,422 cases, which is an increase of 348 cases or 16.8%.
• Reno County has 141 cases, which is an increase of 20 cases or 16.5%.
• Butler County has 105 cases, which is an increase of 13 cases or 14.1%.
• Harvey County has 90 cases, which is an increase of 24 cases or 36.4%.
• Cowley County has 87 cases, which is an increase of eight cases or 10.1%.
• Sumner County has 48 cases, which is an increase of 22 cases or 84.6%.
• Kingman County has four cases, which is no change.

Testing

The KDHE reported an additional 11,949 negative tests over the weekend, bringing the state’s total to 211,117.

The Kansas testing rate is 79.35 people per 1,000 population. Of the 17 counties with at least 100 cases, six have population testing rates lower than the statewide rate. They include Sedgwick, Reno and Butler counties, which have population testing rates of 68.2, 53.3 and 48.5, respectively.

The statewide positive testing rate also increased by more than four percentage points.

The percent of tests that come back positive hit a one-month high on Monday of about 13.9%. That’s up from about 5.2% on June 14, about 9.2% on July 1 and about 9.7% on Sunday.

Sedgwick County has tested 39,746 people, the county health department reports. That is an increase of 1,310 in one day. As the number of people tested increases, so has the percentage of tests that come back positive.

The county was just under 10% on Sunday, which is the most recent day with data available. That’s up from about 8.7% on Saturday. The percentages are a rolling 14-day average.

Public health officials have said a rising positive test percentage shows that the increase in cases is not solely due to an increase in testing.

Coronavirus clusters

Ten more coronavirus clusters were identified in Kansas over the weekend, bringing the state’s total to 267, according to the KDHE. The increases came from outbreaks at four more nursing homes, three more gatherings and three more private businesses.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported one more business cluster on Monday, bringing the county total to 20. There have been outbreaks at nine local nursing homes, seven businesses, three religious institutions and one correctional facility.

The 267 clusters account for 6,873 cases and 216 deaths, or more than one-third of all cases and exactly three-quarters of all deaths in Kansas. While the statewide death count increased by four over the weekend, the cluster death count also increased by four.

Three of those deaths were linked to nursing homes and one was linked to a gathering.

Virus outbreaks at long-term care facilities are responsible for more than half of the deaths in Kansas. The 65 nursing home clusters account for 1,027 cases and 168 deaths.

Meatpacking plants are responsible for about 16% of all cases in the state. The 12 meatpacking plant outbreaks account for 3,205 cases and 17 deaths.

More outbreaks have happened at private businesses than any other cluster category. The 105 business clusters account for 857 cases and six deaths.

There have been outbreaks at 44 gatherings, accounting for 506 cases and 15 deaths. Another 12 clusters were at health care facilities, accounting for 86 cases and no deaths. There have been 10 clusters at group homes with 92 cases and three deaths. The nine clusters at daycares or schools are responsible for 35 cases and no deaths. The five clusters at sporting events have had 36 cases and no deaths. The five clusters at correctional facilities account for 1,029 cases and seven dead.

There have been 149 clusters that have closed and are no longer active.

This story was originally published July 13, 2020 at 12:25 PM.